This invention relates broadly to the art of flyer bows, which are used in machines which twist strands into cable for a wide variety of uses, such as electrical cable and textiles. Flyer bows can be used for pairing, tripling, quading, and bunching machines for twisting wire into cables. A typical construction and operation of a twisting machine and flyer bow is disclosed and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,182, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference. More specifically, the invention relates to the use of pulleys in combination with wireguides (e.g., eyelets) and a flyer bow to guide strands along the flyer bow. The use of pulleys on flyer bows to guide strands of wire is known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,924, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference, discloses an exemplary wire stranding machine which uses pulleys to guide stranded wire. Conventional pulleys are retained in a fixed height relative to the flyer bow and thus, lack the ability to adjust the path of the wire strand to clear attaching hardware, mounts, or other machine features. Further, conventional pulleys require either frequent replacement of bearings due to failure caused by contamination or debris generated during the wire twisting process, or the periodic manual lubrication thereof Both of these interventions cause a disruption of the twisting process, costing the manufacturer time and money.
An embodiment of the invention is a flyer bow assembly including a flyer bow and a pulley. The flyer bow has a top surface and a bottom surface. The pulley includes a pulley support secured to the flyer bow at the bottom surface. The pulley also includes a pulley wheel adjustably mounted on the pulley support such that the distance between the pulley wheel and the flyer bow can be adjusted.